We went looking for a problem. Here's what we found.

Closed on Monday · Field Notes #01. Fort Kochi, October 18, 2026.

A few weeks ago, we started exploring a problem in Fort Kochi: the lack of accessible public toilets for tourists.

The idea was simple. If tourists struggle to find a toilet, perhaps we could make it easier for them. A simple web app showing nearby facilities, accessible through QR codes or NFC tags placed around tourist areas.

But before building anything, we wanted to understand whether people actually needed it.

So, we went to Fort Kochi to ask.

The survey

It was an afternoon, and tourists were wandering around Fort Kochi. Some in groups, some as couples. Most looked exhausted.

We approached a handful of people. Here's how it went.

1. The man rushing to the airport

Our first approach was a tall foreign tourist. He was in a hurry to catch a flight.

Initially, he seemed willing to participate, but I fumbled while explaining the survey, and he politely escaped.

Fair enough.

2. The exhausted couple

Next was a couple, probably from North India.

They were tired and weren't interested in answering questions. They simply wanted to be left alone.

Another fair response.

3. The couple who preferred cafés

We approached another couple. The man answered our question.

If he needed to use a toilet, he would simply walk into a café, buy something, and use their facilities.

He wouldn't actively look for a public toilet.

4. The group of youngsters

A group of Malayali youngsters gave us almost the same answer.

They would visit a restaurant, order something, and use the toilet.

Except this time, their expressions suggested something along the lines of, "Why are you asking us such a weird question?"

Understandable. It's not every day that someone approaches you on vacation to discuss toilets.

What did we learn?

Not a lot, statistically speaking.

We approached four groups and received meaningful answers from only two. That's nowhere near enough data to draw conclusions about the thousands of tourists visiting Fort Kochi.

But the conversations revealed something worth considering.

Both groups who answered already had a workaround.

When they needed a toilet, they would visit a café or restaurant, purchase something, and use the facilities.

They weren't necessarily looking for a dedicated public toilet.

This challenged one of our initial assumptions: that tourists were actively struggling to find toilets and needed a better way to locate them.

Perhaps the problem isn't finding a toilet. Perhaps it's finding one without having to purchase something.

And perhaps, for many tourists, that distinction doesn't matter enough to change their behaviour.

What about the night?

There's another scenario we considered.

What happens when the cafés and restaurants close?

Many establishments in tourist areas remain open into the evening, some until around 10 PM. Beyond that, tourists may already be back at their accommodations or somewhere nearby.

Of course, that's an assumption, not something our survey established.

But consider the circumstances under which our proposed solution might become particularly useful:

• It's late at night, and most establishments are closed.
• Someone unexpectedly needs a toilet.
• Their accommodation isn't nearby.
• There isn't another accessible facility within walking distance.

That's a much more specific problem than the one we originally set out to solve.

And even then, would a toilet-finder app help?

Only if there's an actual toilet available to find.

That's another issue entirely.

A map cannot create infrastructure where none exists.

Perhaps we were solving the wrong problem

Our initial research suggested that public toilet infrastructure in Fort Kochi was inadequate. Reports of closed facilities and inaccurate public signage gave us reason to investigate.

But inadequate infrastructure and an urgent need for a toilet-finder app are two different things.

We may have been too quick to connect the two.

The existence of a problem doesn't automatically mean our proposed solution is valuable.

And people finding their own workarounds doesn't necessarily mean the underlying problem has disappeared.

There's still plenty we don't know.

What about elderly tourists? Families with children? People with disabilities? Visitors who cannot afford to purchase something every time they need a toilet?

Our small survey doesn't tell us much about their experiences.

So, we cannot confidently say that Fort Kochi doesn't have a toilet-access problem.

What we can say is that we haven't found enough evidence that our proposed solution addresses a sufficiently urgent need.

And that's an important distinction.

What's next for Closed on Monday?

We've decided to pause the Fort Kochi toilet-finder initiative until we have more evidence to justify moving forward.

Not because the problem has been solved.

Not because the idea is necessarily bad.

But because we haven't established that building it would make a meaningful difference.

We could still build the app. The technology isn't particularly complicated. We could put together a map, add listings, generate QR codes, and have something functional.

But then what?

Would tourists use it? Would it meaningfully improve their experience? Would we be solving a real problem or simply adding another website to the internet?

We don't know.

And building something just because we can isn't a good enough reason.

For now, Closed on Monday will move on to exploring other problems, while keeping this initiative open for further investigation.

Perhaps more research will bring us back to it.

Perhaps not.

Either way, we learned something.

Sometimes, going out and talking to a few strangers can challenge weeks of thinking.

And sometimes, the most useful outcome of an experiment isn't a product.

It's deciding not to build one.